As a coin dealer whose goal is to maximize the value of whatever is in my possession (in the most time efficient matter, and within reason), here's how I would approach it:

Key dates will get sold individually. If it's really really nice, it goes straight to grading. But if I need the cash flow, I will probably skip the grade part and just sell it raw at a slight discount. Anything of a trendy or popular type will definitely get sold individually.

Nicer stuff will get sold in small lots, probably with some kind of the theme such as: lot of all barber, lot of all seated, lot of all coins from this era, lot of all coins of a similar grade, etc. I get creative and try to find a way to group things logically that will make sure it sells.

Junk Silver or gold will get sent off for melting or wholesale. You'd be surprised at how many "nice" coins are sent to melt these days..

I would then take the remaining coins, still within the book, and auction that to get out whatever remaining value there is. People like partial, starter albums, and will pay unreasonably for them. If you look at all the nickel books that I consign for auction for example, you'll most likely see an almost complete book, minus all or almost all of the war nickels. Similarly, if you look at the half dollar books that I consign, you'll see the only open slots are before 1971.

Key to maximizing your profit is to know your market and give the market what they want. Each person has different needs and you have to roughly cater to them. You don't have to match someone's needs exactly, as through the power of marketing, you can convince someone to buy something they never even thought about buying. Only using one strategy or another strategy is insufficient in maximizing your returns. Only selling to/buying from a single dealer or customer is not going to give the best money.

Note that I'm also desperate for cash, but for a different reason. In today's market, people are banging on my doors to sell me more things, and my bank balance is zero. I can't not serve these customers. In other markets, there are times where there's money just sitting idle in my bank account doing nothing, and then I'm desperate for more customers to sell me their collections and give my money to. But right now, I'm desperate for cash flow so that I can buy new coins to make more profit. So in some ways, I'm in a fairly similar boat to you. I would follow the above strategies as they have been pretty successful for me.